Surge Pricing;do you do it?

1

I dont;Im $79 year round… How do you determine what and when to charge extra?Have you noticed a change in the amount of money you make?

2

Well I have only been hosting a month. So it’s a little trial and error. I’ve decided to take this approach.

Every couple of weeks I am updating my price. I increase by a small amount and if I keep getting bookings I am going to keep upping it. If theres a drop I decrease. If I have gaps in the week ahead I don’t increase for those days.

3

I do. I started in January at $65 plus $10 for second guest. Booked.
Then I raised it to $68 plus $10, booked
Then $73 plus $10, booked
Then $75 plus $10 booked
Then $87 plus $10 weekends, booked, $78 plus $10 weekdays, booked
I’m testing special rates for holiday weekends with $115 plus $10 for July 4th weekend so far I turned down an inquiry she wanted 2 nights and I want to book the weekend.
I also turned down several requests at my highest price points of 78/87 for various reasons or we’d have been booked even more.
Have a guest now at $97 for the couple for one night.
Hope this helps and makes sense. We were hosts since 2010 in CA and did the same thing with prices with no problems.

4

I am checking the demand with rate intelligence (free tools with booking.com).

5

I use a service called PriceLabs.co that dynamically changes my prices based on supply and demand, although I can set the lowest and highest price. It has been pretty good for me, although you always run the risk of confusing potential ABB guests because the search results only show the lowest price. They used to have a label that says Starting at $165 per night, or whatever, but it isn’t there all the time, or in all views. Bastards.

6

I have liked beyondpricing.com. They take the guess work out of it and do the work for you.

The only time it hasn’t been helpful is when the openings are within the next three days. They cut my rate by 25% - however, when I overrode that and put it at full price I got booked up. I searched for properties matching mine and saw that very, very few were available.

So, it’s helpful, but still needs some attention. But at least you have a general idea, and, they have me marked way up on certain days because of events I know nothing about.

I’m near DC, so there’s no way I could keep up with the political, financial, festival, etc., happenings around town.

We booked a camping trip with extended family over the 4th as they have very limited vacation and had to make use of the holiday - boy, I’m happy to be seeing them but have to admit I’m counting the dollars lost…I can only imagine what my mark-up would be!!!